The Pacific (miniseries)
| starring = James Badge Dale Jon Seda Joseph Mazzello Rami Malek | narrated = | theme_music_composer = Hans Zimmer | composer = Geoff Zanelli Blake Neely | country = United States | language = English | num_episodes = 10 | list_episodes = #Episodes | producer = Steven Spielberg (executive) Tom Hanks (executive) Gary Goetzman (executive) Tony To (co-executive) Graham Yost (co-executive) Eugene Kelly (co-executive) Bruce C. McKenna (co-executive) Cherylanne Martin Todd London Steven Shareshian Tim Van Patten (supervising) George Pelecanos (co-producer) Robert Schenkkan (co-producer) | editor = | cinematography = | runtime = 540 minutes | company = DreamWorks Television Playtone | distributor = Warner Bros. Television | budget = US$200 million | network = HBO | first_aired = March 14, 2010 | last_aired = May 16, 2010 | preceded_by = Band of Brothers | followed_by = | website = http://www.hbo.com/the-pacific }} The Pacific is a 2010 American television series produced by HBO, Playtone, and DreamWorks that premiered in the United States on March 14, 2010. The series is a companion piece to the 2001 miniseries Band of Brothers and focuses on the United States Marine Corps' actions in the Pacific Theater of Operations within the wider Pacific War. Whereas Band of Brothers followed the men of Easy Company of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment through the European Theater, The Pacific centers on the experiences of three Marines (Robert Leckie, Eugene Sledge, and John Basilone) who were all in different regiments (1st, 5th, and 7th, respectively) of the 1st Marine Division. The Pacific was spearheaded by Bruce C. McKenna (co-executive producer), one of the main writers on Band of Brothers. Hugh Ambrose, the son of Band of Brothers author Stephen Ambrose, served as a project consultant. The Pacific miniseries features the 1st Marine Division's battles in the Pacific, such as Guadalcanal, Cape Gloucester, Peleliu, and Okinawa, as well as Basilone's involvement in the Battle of Iwo Jima. It is based primarily on the memoirs of two U.S. Marines: With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa by Eugene Sledge and Helmet for My Pillow by Robert Leckie. It also draws on Sledge's memoir China Marine and Red Blood, Black Sand, the memoir of Chuck Tatum, a Marine who fought alongside Basilone on Iwo Jima. Cast * James Badge Dale as PFC Robert Leckie (1920–2001) * Joseph Mazzello as Cpl Eugene "Sledgehammer" Sledge (1923–2001) * Jon Seda as GySgt John Basilone (1916–1945) * Ashton Holmes as Cpl Sidney "Sid" Phillips (1924–2015) * William Sadler as Lt. Col. Lewis "Chesty" Puller (1898–1971) * Jon Bernthal as Sgt Manuel "Manny" Rodriguez (−1942) * Jacob Pitts as PFC Bill "Hoosier" Smith (1922–1985) * Keith Nobbs as PFC Bud "Runner" Conley (1921–1997) * Josh Helman as Cpl Lew "Chuckler" Juergens (1918–1982) * Henry Nixon as 1stLt Hugh Corrigan (1920–2005) * Rami Malek as Cpl Merriell "Snafu" Shelton (1922–1993) * Brendan Fletcher as PFC Bill Leyden (1926–2008) * Martin McCann as Sgt R.V Burgin (1922–2019) * Dylan Young as PFC Jay De L'Eau (1923–1997) * Andrew Lees as PFC Robert Oswalt (1923–1944) * Scott Gibson as Capt Andrew A. "Ack-Ack" Haldane (1917–1944) * Gary Sweet as GySgt Elmo "Gunny" Haney (1898–1979) * Joshua Bitton as Sgt J. P. Morgan (1919–1980) * Toby Leonard Moore as 2nd Lt Stone * Nate Corddry as PFC "Loudmouth" (−1944) * Cariba Heine as Phyllis * Nikolai Nikolaeff as Rear Echelon Man * Matt Craven as CAPT Grant * Damon Herriman as Merrin * Dwight Braswell as PFC Clifford "Steve" Evanson (1926–1945) * Ben Esler as PFC Charles "Chuck" Tatum (1926–2014) * Joshua Close as Major Edward Sledge (1920–1985) * Noel Fisher as Pvt Hamm (−1945) * Chris Foy as Pvt Tony "Kathy" Peck * Leon Ford as 1stLt Edward "Hillbilly" Jones (1917–1944) * Freddie Joe Farnsworth as 1stLt "Stumpy" Stanley * Sandy Winton as Capt Jameson * Tom Budge as Ronnie "The Kid" Gibson * Richard Cawthorne as Perle * Anna Torv as Virginia Grey (1917–2004) * Claire van der Boom as Stella * Ashley Zukerman as 2ndLt Robert "Mac" MacKenzie (−2003) * Caroline Dhavernas as Vera Keller * Annie Parisse as Sgt Lena Mae Riggi Basilone (1913–1999) * Catherine McClements as Catherine Leckie * Isabel Lucas as Gwen * Adelaide Clemens as Register Girl * Penny McNamee as Hope * Mauricio Merino, Jr. as Handyboy * Brandon Keener as Charles Dunworthy Episodes |Viewers = 3.08 |ShortSummary = Robert Leckie and the 1st Marines land on Guadalcanal and take part in the Battle of the Tenaru. Eugene Sledge persuades his parents to allow him to join the war. The Battle of Savo Island is briefly portrayed. |LineColor = 544d2c }} |Viewers = 2.79 |ShortSummary = John Basilone and the 7th Marines land on Guadalcanal to bolster the defenses around Henderson Field. Basilone, attempting to relocate his machine gun to a better position, bare-handedly cradles the hot barrel while in action, severely burning his arms, and continues fighting. |LineColor = 544d2c }} |Viewers = 2.77 |ShortSummary = The 1st Marine Division on Guadalcanal is relieved and arrives in Melbourne, Australia. Leckie falls in love with Stella Karamanlis, an Australian girl of Greek descent, who invites him to stay at her parents' home. Basilone receives the Medal of Honor and is sent home to sell war bonds. |LineColor = 544d2c }} |Viewers = 2.52 |ShortSummary = Eugene Sledge enlists in the Marines and trains for combat, while Leckie and the 1st Marine Division are put into action at Cape Gloucester. After their action on Cape Gloucester, Leckie and 1st Marine Division arrive in Pavuvu, which serves as temporary home to the U.S. 1st Marine Division. Leckie is treated for nocturnal enuresis caused by combat stress. |LineColor = 544d2c }} |Viewers = 2.71 |ShortSummary = Sledge is reunited with an old friend, Sidney Phillips. Leckie integrates himself back into the front-line lifestyle. Sledge and Leckie land with the 1st Marine Division at Peleliu. |LineColor = 544d2c }} |Viewers = 2.38 |ShortSummary = The Marines move to capture Peleliu's vital airfield. Leckie is wounded by a blast concussion during the battle while trying to relay a message to the corpsman. With a face full of shrapnel and limited mobility, he is evacuated and sent to recuperate on a hospital ship as the fighting continues. |LineColor = 544d2c }} |Viewers = 2.55 |ShortSummary = Sledge and the 5th Marines move into Peleliu's Bloody Nose Ridge to face the Japanese. Andrew “Ack-Ack” Haldane is shot and killed by a Japanese sniper while assessing the area of Hill 140. |LineColor = 544d2c }} |Viewers = 2.34 |ShortSummary = Basilone is transferred to the 5th Marine Division where he trains Marines for combat. There he meets and marries Lena Riggi. He then lands at Iwo Jima but is killed by Japanese small arms fire. |LineColor = 544d2c }} |Viewers = 1.81 |ShortSummary = Sledge and the 1st Marine Division land at Okinawa. Sledge, now a seasoned veteran, becomes more cynical and no longer shows any compassion for the Japanese. As he and others prepare to return home from Okinawa, they hear of a "new bomb" that "[bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki|vaporized an entire [Japanese city in the blink of an eye]]". |LineColor = 544d2c }} |Viewers = 1.96 |ShortSummary = Sledge and Leckie return home after the Japanese surrender. Sledge is still haunted by the horrors of war. Leckie starts a relationship with Vera. Basilone's widow, Lena, visits his parents and gives them his Medal of Honor. |LineColor = 544d2c }} }} Production light tank in the National Museum of Singapore, one of four constructed for the miniseries. ]] The Pacific was produced by Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks, and Gary Goetzman in association with HBO Miniseries, Playtone, DreamWorks, Seven Network and Sky Movies. Seven and Sky both invested in the project for the right to broadcast it in Australia and the United Kingdom respectively. Nine Network has previously broadcast the HBO productions of Band of Brothers. Nine had a broadcast deal with HBO's parent Warner Bros., but then HBO started to distribute its own productions separately. In April 2007, the producers set up a production office in Melbourne and began casting. Originally the project was estimated at $100 million to produce, but ended up costing over $200 million, making The Pacific the most expensive television miniseries ever created by any network.Askmen.com: The Pacific: 5 Things you Didn't KnowPopeater.com (AOL News): How HBO Made the Most Expensive Mini-Series of All-TimeManila Bulletin: 'The Pacific', a $200 million HBO mini-series According to The Sydney Morning Herald the series cost $270 million, with an estimated A$134 million of that spent in Australia. The Australian newspaper Herald Sun estimates that it brought 4,000 jobs and generated A$180 million for the Australian economy. Filming of the miniseries in Australia started on August 10, 2007, and finished in late May 2008. From August until November 2007 filming took place at locations in and around Port Douglas, Queensland including Mossman, Queensland; Drumsara Plantation, Mowbray National Park and beaches at Rocky Point, Queensland. Production then moved to rural Victoria, in the You Yangs near Lara (from November–December 2007), then at a sand quarry on Sandy Creek Road near Geelong, Victoria until February 2008. Melbourne city locations were used in late 2007 and through 2008 including Central City Studios at Melbourne Docklands (March 2008); Flinders Street (between Swanston and Elizabeth streets, 1–4 February 2008); the intersection of Swanston and Flinders streets (February 2008); Flinders Street station (2–3 February 2008). Other suburban locations included Mornington Railway, Bundoora, Victoria, specifically the Ernest Jones Hall at the La Trobe University campus, Bundoora (late May 2008); the Railway Hotel, South Melbourne (December 2007); Scotch College, Melbourne (December 2007); Melbourne High School (December 2007). The series' score was written by Hans Zimmer, Geoff Zanelli and Blake Neely and was released on March 9, 2010. Historian Hugh Ambrose, son of Band of Brothers author Stephen E. Ambrose, wrote the official tie-in book to the miniseries, which follows the stories of two of the featured men from the miniseries, Basilone and Sledge, as well as stories of Sledge's close friend Sidney Phillips and two men not featured in the series, marine officer Austin Shofner and U.S. Navy pilot Vernon Micheel. The different cast provides a wider view of the Pacific theatre, allowing the book to include the fall of the Philippines, Midway, Philippine Sea and Luzon and expand the narrative to include depictions of life as experienced by prisoners of war, senior officers and the development of naval aviation. It was published in the UK and the U.S. in March 2010 and Ambrose gave a webcast interview about the book at the Pritzker Military Library on April 15, 2010. Broadcast The series premiered in the US and Canada on March 14, 2010, on HBO. HBO Asia premiered The Pacific at 9 pm on April 3, 2010, with the first two episodes being consecutively broadcast in the first week. Singapore, Hong Kong, and Indonesia had dual language available. Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia, and Philippines broadcasts were available in high-definition on the HBO Asia HD Channel. The Pacific began broadcast on April 5, 2010 on Sky Movies in the United Kingdom and Ireland. In Portugal, the series was broadcast on April 5, 2010 on AXN and in HD on AXN HD two days after the original broadcast in the U.S. The series broadcast commenced in Australia on Channel 7 on Wednesday, April 14, 2010, at 8:30 pm.Devlyn, Darren (April 6, 2010). Channel 7 drama, The Pacific, creates 4000 Aussie jobs. Herald Sun, 6 April 2010. In Denmark, Norway, Finland, France and Sweden, the series began broadcasting on Canal+; in Turkey, CNBC-e on 18 April 2010; in the Netherlands, on April 7, 2010 on Veronica; and in Greece, on Nova Cinema on April 10, 2010. In New Zealand, the series began broadcasting on April 12, 2010 on TV One. In Italy, the miniseries began broadcast on May 9, 2010 on Sky Cinema 1; in Germany, on July 15, 2010 on Kabel eins. In Japan, the miniseries started July 18, 2010 on WOWOW. In South Africa, the miniseries started broadcasting on May 5, 2010 on the Mnet channel. Marketing The first official U.S. trailer for The Pacific aired on HBO prior to the season 2 premiere of True Blood on June 14, 2009. It showed footage of the three main characters, including a conversation between Leckie and Sledge, Basilone's marriage and numerous combat scenes. The trailer concluded with "2010" displayed on-screen -alluding to and confirming the series release date. A second trailer was released on the HBO website after which the date "March 2010" is displayed, giving a more specific series release date. On January 14, 2010, Comcast added on-demand content from the series, including a scene from The Pacific, interviews with the producers and character profiles. Another trailer was shown in February 2010 during Super Bowl XLIV, depicting several combat scenes. An extended trailer (3:47) to the miniseries can be viewed on the series' official website. Reception Critical reception The Pacific was very well received by critics. On the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the series holds an approval rating of 91% with an average rating of 8.32 out of 10, based on 43 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "An honest, albeit horrifying, exploration of World War II, The Pacific is a visually stunning miniseries not for the faint of heart." On Metacritic, the series has a weighted average score of 86 out of 100, based on 32 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". Time magazine's James Poniewozik named it one of the Top 10 TV Series of 2010. IGN reviewer Ramsey Isler gave the entire miniseries an 8.5 out of 10, saying "Although I don't think The Pacific overtakes Band of Brothers in terms of technical execution and overall entertainment value, many of the comparisons will be moot as The Pacific is a different kind of series with different goals. This series sought to look beyond the combat and it paints a full, vivid picture of the war and the people that fought it through focused, individual stories. That's a tall order for any series to fulfill, and although The Pacific doesn't always come through with shining colors, it does make an admirable effort." IGN also reviewed each individual episode, with Episode 9 receiving a perfect 10 out of 10 score. Accolades The Pacific won a Peabody Award in 2010 for "reminding us of the necessities—and the costs—of service."70th Annual Peabody Awards, May 2011. It also won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Miniseries and was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Miniseries or Television Film. Primetime Emmy Awards Golden Globe Awards Other Awards References Further reading * Military History Magazine, Vol. 26, No. 4 October/November 2009 * External links * * * (Australia) * (United States) * (United Kingdom) * }} Category:2010 American television series debuts Category:2010 Australian television series debuts Category:2010 American television series endings Category:2010 Australian television series endings Category:2010s American television miniseries Category:2010s Australian television miniseries Category:English-language television programs Category:HBO network shows Category:Pacific War films Category:Peabody Award-winning television programs Category:Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Miniseries winners Category:Primetime Emmy Award-winning television series Category:Seven Network shows Category:Television series based on actual events Category:Television series by DreamWorks Television Category:Television series by Playtone Category:Television shows set in the Northern Territory Category:Television shows set in Victoria (Australia) Category:Television about the United States Marine Corps Category:War television series Category:World War II television drama series Category:American military television series